Tim McGraw reveals ‘tough’ restrictions in candid admission about his career

Tim McGraw is known for his distinctive, high-pitched voice – a signature sound that’s earned him a loyal fanbase and a stellar career since the ’90s. But that iconic voice doesn’t come without its challenges. 

In an interview on the Bobby Bones Show podcast, the 58-year-old opened up about his current vocal limitations and revealed he may need to adjust the key of some of his songs. “You still sing in the same key, you sing really high,” said the podcast host.

“I don’t think people realized I sing as high as I do because my voice is kinda’ thick,” explained Tim. “Sometimes an artist comes out and sings a song with me like “I Like It, I Love It”, and they come out on stage for a song and they think ‘Oh I know that song’ and they’ll go out and start singing it and go ‘Whoa this is high than I realized it was.'”

Bobby then asked the musician if he had to “ever consider any key change yet”. “Yeah, there’s a few songs that are pushing me up a little,” admitted Tim.

The country music star shared that his hit “Standing Room Only” is one of the most challenging of his songs. “That’s tough to sing, there’s a really high spot in it,” explained the star. 

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Tim then admitted that he can only perform some of his biggest hits once a month, as they now place too much strain on his voice. “You find ways to adjust to it. Luckily there’s been a few songs that I really love that I could probably only pull off like once a month that are so high,” he shared. 

The singer’s health

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Tim was forced to cancel his 2024 tour when he underwent orthopedic surgery on both knees due to an injury sustained on the road. “To have almost a year of just sitting there [doing nothing], and I can tell you that after double knee replacements and three back surgeries and now a torn rotator cuff and a ruptured disc, there were times this year that I thought this might be it. This might be time to hang it up,” he shared on the TL’s Road House podcast.

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“It has changed the way I do a live show,” he added. “It’s gonna come to a point to where I’m either gonna have to decide to change the way I do a live show to continue to do it or just not do it anymore.”  

The musician returned to the stage on May 31 for the first time since his Standing Room Only tour was canceled, performing to a sold-out crowd at the Music City Rodeo in Nashville.